"I've said it before," Dantonio said, "there's a little bit of (a feeling of) resolve, a little bit of excitement, and we've come here to earn a little respect, too."

Dantonio didn't deny that players who made the trip were feeling a bit wounded from the negative media coverage surrounding some or their teammates' role in a fight at a campus dormitory on Nov. 22.

"You know, we have a lot of great young men in our program," Dantonio said. "They represent the program on the field and off the field, and whenever anything like that comes into question, when your team is pushed in that area, it does not represent the (character of the) majority of our players."

In all, 14 Michigan State players have been either suspended or dismissed from the team since a 42-14 season-ending loss to Penn State on Nov. 21.

None of those athletes traveled to San Antonio. Of 13 athletes linked to the dormitory incident, criminal charges are pending against nine. Seven of those players have been suspended and two dismissed from the squad.

As a result, the Spartans will face the Red Raiders without two of their best receivers and a couple of key contributors in their secondary.

Senior offensive lineman Rocco Cironi expressed mixed emotions about the plight of the players who have been linked to the fight.

"It's sad that it happened," Cironi said. "But you kind of see where their ... alliances lie, when they kind of care more about themselves than they do the team. Hopefully they'll learn from this."